Atoxigenic fungi fermentation strategy and biocontrol agent to increase safety in aging of traditional foods

Soil microorganisms are important components as major actors in many ecosystem reactions and they can be used for various biotechnological applications.
Filamentous fungi play important roles in the production of a variety of food (e.g. cheeses, sausages). They can be inoculated on food, as a starter culture, or stand out in mixed cultures during spontaneous fermentation. However some moulds can cause spoilage by altering the appearance of grains and foods, as well as by synthesising toxic secondary metabolites (mycotoxins). Evidence shows that some soil microorganisms, in particular chitinolytic and cellulolytic bacteria, are likely to play an important role as pathogen antagonists. 
Our proposal involves the use of well characterised bacteria as biocontrol agents against the growth of pathogenic moulds during fermentation and may also function in the post-harvest control.

• Characterization of genetic features of atoxigenic fungal strains belonging to Aspergillus or Penicillium genera, in gene clusters associated to secondary metabolites production abilities and assessment in vitro of secondary metabolites profiles.
• Characterization in isolated soil bacteria of the abilities to product and secrete some metabolites against pathogenic agent by microbiological, chromatographic, spectrophotometric techniques.
• Cytotoxicity analysis of bacterial extract in human cell lines (collaboration with IRIB).

Application of well characterized moulds and bacteria to food surfaces to improve primarily the safety towards mycotoxin production and additionally to add improvement to flavour, taste, drying rate, and a more uniform appearance of food product.